Esterification Process of Polyols With Tertiary Alkyl Substituted Acids

ABSTRACT

A process to prepare polyol esters from tertiary alkyl acid with reduced homo-polymerisation of the polyols. The ester polyol can be used in the synthesis of further polyester resins for coating or structural/composite or lube oil applications.

The present invention relates to a process to prepare polyol esters from tertiary alkyl acid with reduced homo-polymerisation of the polyols. Esters of trialkyl acetic acids are known to have high hydrolytic resistance and to enhance the hydrolytic stability of adjacent ester. They are therefore well appreciate for coating and or structural end use applications, wherein resistance against hydrolysis are requested. This property is due to steric hindrance providing by of the trialkyl group of the acid. Partially esterified polyols with trialkyl acetic acid are therefore appreciated as building-block in the synthesis of resins for coatings or structural applications.

The esterification of an alcohol with a trialkyl acetic acid is difficult, and therefore such an acid has even been used as catalyst to promote the esterification reaction of a less sterically hindered acid with an alcohol (WO 01 44156).

The use of traditional esterification catalysts for the esterification of a sterically hindered acid with alcohol or polyol is known from Jour. Am. Oil. Chem. Soc., Vol 45, 5-10, January 1968. The conditions used are in the opinion of the authors more rigorous than for non-sterically hindered acid or alcohol and in the case of polyols they worked with an excess of acid to achieve a complete esterification of the alcohol functions.

The esterification of highly branched (sterically hindered) acids was also known by use of non traditional esterification catalysts. The use of chlorosilanes (Bull. Chem. Soc. Jpn, 54, 1267-1268) is efficient in case of a mono alcohol due to the formation of the alkoxysilanes as active species. However, not any technology is given as to the use of this method for partial esterification of polyols.

From said cited publications it can be derived that the prior art solutions suffer from disadvantages such as the use of expensive catalysts, or that the conditions could not be used to promote a partial esterication of a polyol to yield predominantly mono ester of polyols with only small amounts amounts of higher molecular weight compound resulting from etherification side reactions.

A process that could use conventional esterification catalysts to produce predominantly mono-ester of polyols is strongly needed by the industry; as such a monomer is seen as a valuable building block to be used in further resin synthesis.

As result of extensive research and experimentation, it has now surprisingly been found that a selection of specific process conditions in combination with a specific of catalyst enables the predominant formation of low viscosity hydroxyl functional mono-ester from tertiary alkyl carboxylic acids with polyols.

Surprisingly, it has been found now that use of sulfonic acid derivatives under mild thermal conditions is efficient combination to the production of mono-ester of a polyol without significant formation of polyethers. Said polyethers are regarded as undesired homopolymer side products and believed to be the reaction product between alcohol functions; this reaction is a competition reaction when esterification is slow or when the alcohol is used in excess over the acid functions. The present invention provides a solution for the problem encountered i.e. an improved selective preparation of mono ester from polyols and sterically hindered carboxylic acids.

The process for the above selective esterification reaction is obtained in the presence of acid catalyst at a temperature below 180° C.

Suitable polyols can be selected from ethylene glycol, propylene glycol, oligomer of glycols (n from 2 to 10), glycerol, neopentyl glycol, trimethylolpropane, pentaerythritol, and combination thereof. Preferred polyols are selected from ethylene glycol, neopentyl glycol, trimethylolpropane, pentaerythritol. The most preferred are neopentyl glycol, trimethylolpropane.

The acid derivative is selected from an acid correspond to the general formula (I),

in which R¹, R² are independently aliphatic alkyl radicals of 1 to 10 carbon atoms, the total carbon atoms of the three radicals (CH₃+R¹+R²) being 3 to 20, preferably 3 to 13.

The acid catalyst is selected from a sulphonic acid derivative such as methane sulphonic, ethane sulphonic, trifluoromethane sulphonic, para toluene sulphonic, xylenee sulphonic acids, and the preferred acids catalyst are methane sulphonic acid or para-toluene sulphonic acid These acids are used in a range of 0.05 to 4 weight % relative to the weight of acid and polyol. The most preferred range is 0.10 to 2.5 weight % on acid and polyol. The most preferred catalyst is methane sulphonic acid.

The hydroxyl ester derived from the above polyol and the alkyl acid of formula (I) can further be used as building blocks in the preparation of a polyester resin with improved chemical resistance.

The resins so obtained are oligomers that may be used advantageously in coating compositions, in compositions for fiber impregnation and for lube oil application.

Test Description and Analytical Methods:

Impact test: ISO 6272-93 (E) Pendulum damping test (Koenig hardness): according to ISO 1522-73(E) or DIN 53 157 Methyl ethyl ketone resistance (MEK) summary of the method:

A piece of cotton wool, soaked with MEK, is rubbed over the coating (using a pressure of around 2 kg). If the coating surface has been rubbed one hundred times up and down without showing any damage, the coating is said to be fully cured. If, after x “double MEK rubs”, the coating has been destroyed on a full line going from the top to the bottom of the panel, the coating is said to fail after x “double MEK rubs”. The MEK resistance was measured on cured coatings.

Viscosity of Newtonian systems using a Brookfield viscometer: ISO 2555-89.

The invention is illustrated in more detail in the following examples, however without restricting its scope to these specific embodiments. All percentages are contents by mass weight and all parts are parts by mass weight, unless expressly stated otherwise.

EXAMPLES Manufacturing Procedure

A 1 l round-bottomed glass reactor equipped with a stainless steel anchor stirrer, thermocouple, reflux condenser with a Dean Stark and N₂-inlet is used. The tertiary alkyl acid and polyalcohol (see Tables 1 and 2 for the composition); with the mole ratio acid/alcohol is 1:1; are charged into the reactor. The reaction is carried out under N₂ and constant stirring and heated progressively. At 130° C., the solvent (xylene) and the catalyst are added. The temperature is raised till

-   -   150° C. when using pivalic acid (V5)     -   170° C. when using the neo-decanoic acid (V10)

(Versatic 10 acid, ex Resolution Performance Products). The temperature is kept constant till the acid value has reached a constant value. At that moment, the reaction is stopped and cooled down.

The scheme below indicates the structure of the products that have been identified by GC-MS analysis (with ionization detection, mode POS-Cl) for the examples based on trimethylol propane (TMP) as polyol. In the analyzed samples no polyethers were found.

The catalyst used:

-   -   para-toluene sulphonic acid (pTSA)     -   methane sulphonic acid (MSA 70% in water)

The weight % reported in Tables below for MSA is the weight of the supplied solution.

pTSA supplied as solid, 97.5%, from Acros MSA supplied as solution (70% in water) from Atofina. Polyol used as supplied: Trimethylol propane (TMP) 97%, Aldrich Neo pentyl glycol (NPG) 99%, Aldrich

Pentaerythritol 98%, Aldrich Examples of Pivalic Acid (V5)

TABLE 1 Example 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Acid V5 V5 V5 V5 V5 V5 V5 V5 Alcohol TMP TMP TMP TMP TMP TMP TMP TMP molar ratio Alcohol/Acid 1/1 1/1 1/1 1/1 1/1 1/1 1/1 1/1 Catalyst pTSA MSA MSA MSA MSA MSA pTSA pTSA Quantity Cat 2 2 0.5 0.25 0.15 0.1 0.1 0.15 Viscosity (mPa · s) 197 1818 806 720 450 262 737 420 Colour (Pt/Co) 173 324 166 125 73 63 70 115 Time (Hour) 1.5 1.5 2.5 2.5 3.5 5 6 5.5 Yield (%)* 95 98.5 95 97 97 95 91 95 Ester (%) Mono 34 66.5 63.6 68.9 nd 74.2 73.9 70.5 Di 59 33.5 35.7 30.7 nd 25.6 26.1 29.5 Tri 7 0 0.7 0.4 nd 0.3 0 0 nd = not done; *yield based on converted acid (catalyst intake: all expressed in part by weight on total of acid and polyol weight)

Examples of Versatic 10 Acid (V10)

TABLE 2 Reaction Equivalent Catalyst Catalyst Viscosity Colour time Yield Example Acid Alcohol ratio Al/Ac Type conc.* [mPa · s] [Pt/Co] [Hours] [%]  9 V10 NPG 1/1 pTSA 2  45 480 6 62 10 V10 TMP 1/1 pTSA 4 × 0.5** 241 399 12  73 11 V10 TMP 1/1 pTSA 2 / 450 9 81 **added in four portion over the reaction

Example 12 Polyester Resin Prepared from Ester-Polyol Prepared from Example 6

A 1 l round-bottomed glass reactor equipped with a stainless steel anchor stirrer, thermocouple, reflux condenser and N₂-inlet is used. The product of example 6 (177.8 grams) is charged with succinic anhydride (153.6 grams) in the reactor in a 1-1 mole ratio (considering the ideal adduct structure to be the mono ester). The mixture is heated under stirring until 105° C. around this temperature an exotherm occur and the temperature rose till 160° C. The reaction conditions are maintained till the acid value is reached. Then the reaction mixture is cooled down to about 140° C. before adding Cardura E10 (401 gram) the temperature is kept constant for 1 hour.

Polyester resin properties:

Color (Pt/Co): 130

Viscosity: 12 690 mPa·s Coating formulation

Crosslinker: Cymel 301 ex CYTEC.

Cure catalyst: pTSA as 40% solution in butanol, concentration 1 weight % on total is used.

Ratio: Polyester 12/Cymel=80/20.

Cure condition of the coated Q panel: 30 minutes 140° C. Applied layer: 60-65 microns. Coating properties: direct/reverse impact strength>160 inch·lb Slow penetration 9 mm MEK resistance>100 double rubs (MEK=methyl ethyl ketone)

Examples 13 and 14 Polyester Prepared from Pivalic Acid, Polyol and Other Acids or Anhydride

The polyesters with the compositions presented in the Table 3 were prepared in a glass reactor equipped with stirrer, heater/cooler and Dean stark. All the ingredients were heated to 160-200° C. until the desired acid value was obtained. Xylene was used to remove the reaction water by azeotropic distillation.

Ingredients 13 14 Pentaerythritol 2 2 (mole) Methyl 1 1 Hexahydrophthalic anhydride (mole) V5 (mole) 3 4 Catalyst MSA MSA Catalyst quantity 0.02 wt % 0.02 wt % OH values % 6.8 5.1 MW 892 909 Mn 722 745 (V5): pivalic acid

Example 15 Coating Based on Polyester 14

The polyester 14 was then evaluated as reactive diluent for an isocyanate cured coating. It was first blended in 40 wt % with an acrylic polyol. Desmodur N3600, an aliphatic isocyanate from Bayer, was used as curing agent, the catalyst was a mixture of dibutyltin dilaurate and 1,4 diazabicylo 2,2,2 octane, and the systems were diluted to 100 mPas with butyl acetate.

This system was compared with a similar coating formulation prepared with the acrylic polyol without polyester. The mixture containing 40% had a much lower VOC than the reference material (400 versus 458 g/l) but nevertheless displayed excellent hardening speed and appearance. After less than 30 minutes at 60° C. the system was tack-free. 

1. A process of preparing polyol esters from tertiary alkyl acids comprising reacting the polyol ester and the tertiary alkyl acid in the presence of an acid catalyst having a pKa from −2 to +2 at a temperature below 180° C., and optionally in presence of an inert organic solvent.
 2. The process of claim 1, wherein the acid catalyst is a sulphonic acid derivative.
 3. The process of claim 1, wherein the acid catalyst is selected from the group consisting of methane sulphonic acid, ethane sulphonic acid, trifluoromethane sulphonic acid, para toluene sulphonic acid, xylene sulphonic acid and combinations thereof.
 4. The process of claim 1, wherein the acid catalyst is methane sulphonic acid or para toluene sulphonic acid.
 5. The process of claim 1 wherein the acid catalyst is used in a range from 0.05 to 4 weight % relative to the weight of the tertiary alkyl acid and the polyol ester.
 6. The process of claim 1, wherein the tertiary alkyl acid is represented by the formula (I),

in which R¹, R² are independently aliphatic alkyl radicals having 1 to 10 carbon atoms, and the total carbon atoms of the three radicals, CH₃+R¹+R² ranges from 3 to
 20. 7. The process of claim 1, wherein the polyol is selected from the group consisting of ethylene glycol, propylene glycol, glycol oligomers having 2 to 10 repeating units, glycerol, neopentyl glycol, trimethylolpropane, pentaerythritol, and combinations thereof.
 8. A resin composition containing a polyol ester produced according to claim
 1. 9. The resin composition of claim 8, wherein the composition is a cured resin composition.
 10. A shaped article containing the cured composition of claim
 9. 11. The process of claim 1, wherein the acid catalyst is used in a range from 0.10 to 2.5 weight % relative to the weight of the tertiary alkyl acid and the polyol ester.
 12. The process of claim 1, wherein the tertiary alkyl acid is represented by formula (I),

in which R¹, R² are independently aliphatic alkyl radicals having 1 to 10 carbon atoms and the total carbon atoms of the three radicals, CH₃+R¹+R², ranges from 3 to
 13. 13. The process of claim 1, wherein the polyol is selected from the group consisting of neopentyl glycol, trimethylolpropane, pentacrythritol and combinations thereof. 